Still keeping mum over SAS fiasco

But investors hope the isssue will be brought up at
today's sitting of the State Legislative Assembly.

KOTA KINABALU: “Just give me back my money. Don’t be irresponsible.” This is what Joseph would like to say to Sabah Chief Minister Musa Aman if he ever meets him face to face.

The middle-aged father of six has been saying this for years with an air of resignation. But now, there is a faint hope he might get an answer when the State Legislative Assembly begins its sitting to unveil the next state budget.

Joseph is talking about his savings that he invested in the ill-fated Saham Amanah Sabah (SAS) trust fund that was launched by the Barisan Nasional state government in 1994.

Thousands of other investors even happily took bank loans to buy into the fund at RM1 per share without reading the fine print.

The idea at the time was that since the fund was specifically open to Bumiputeras and non-Bumiputera Sabahans, it was safe.

When the new BN government-backed fund was launched with great fanfare supposedly to help the less well off gain something extra for their retirement, many thousands thought of it as a ripe durian waiting to be opened.

The happiness was short-lived. The value of the shares nose-dived almost 90% and the stink that followed has clung to the BN government ever since with the shares now trading at about 30 sen.

It’s unbelievable that almost two decades on, the Sabah BN government has not been able to solve a problem it created while it is helmed by an “astute businessman” chief minister (those are the words of Musa’s claque).

The state government’s boast of being flush with cash and having managed the state well is not going down well with investors who feel the BN government misled them and then used the global financial turmoil of 1997-98 as the cause for the decline of the value of the shares.

Both Musa and his colleagues in the BN and former chief minister Yong Teck Lee, who helmed the state government during the period when the shares were devalued, have gone toe-to-toe over the issue in the media.

Height of irresponsibility
“Each is claiming it’s the other’s fault but the state government is ignoring that they as a whole are responsible, irrespective of who was the chief minister. This is not about individuals. This is about government responsibility,” said Joseph.

“The BN government launched the SAS and is responsible for it. If Musa and Yong want to go outside and punch it out, they can go ahead and do so as far as I’m concerned… no one cares, but what is the state government going to do about this?

“It is ignoring the fact that it has a collective responsibility to me and other investors for this mess.

“For the BN government not to do anything about our plight is the height of irresponsibility. It was a scheme sanctioned and supported by the government of Sabah. I’m not asking them to salvage the thing. Just give me back my money. I’m not asking too much,” said Joseph.

He is right. Yong and his Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) were in the BN government at the time. Yong headed the state government under a chief minister rotation system approved by then premier and BN chairman Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

Joseph and SAS investors like him are willing to compromise. They are willing to give the state government up to three years to come good on the amount they have put into the fund even though, like in Joseph’s case, the principal amount would have almost doubled by now if it had been placed in a bank as a fixed deposit.

What worries investors is that the state BN government appears to be doing nothing at all about the issue apart from periodically saying the share prices have risen a few sen.

No more excuses

A banker, who requested anonymity, said it would be simple enough for the state government to use its many other investment and financial houses such as Warisan Harta, Surya Capital or the POIC

(Palm Oil Industrial Cluster) to generate the necessary amount to return to investors who have lost their savings.

“The problem is, politicians are pointing their finger at one another and have made this a political issue and ignored the plight of the investors. Since they all want to look important and in control, they won’t rush a solution, which could make the other party look good,” he said.

He said the federal government should step in and instruct the state government to clear up the fiasco and not let personal matters stand in the way of a resolution as it could damage the BN’s standing in the coming general election.

Meanwhile, SAPP’s state assembly representatives are already sharpening their knives over the issue ahead of the state 2013 budget sitting today.

Melanie Chia (Luyang) and Liew Teck Chan (Likas) have filed a motion for a debate on the issue which they said affected more than 50,000 investors.

Chia said in a statement that this is only appropriate and fair as the state government had encouraged ordinary Sabahans as well as the civil servants to invest in it with the assurance that its value would never fall below RM1.

She said many investors were still paying back their bank loans they had taken to invest in the fund, which continues to be traded at around 32 sen per share, almost 70% below its value at its launch so many years ago after the economy in Asia had recovered.

“There should be no more excuses for the SAS not to give its investors a satisfactory answer to its continuous poor performance and to do something concrete to bring its value to RM1 at least,” she said.

For people like Joseph, it is music to their ears and he, like thousands of others, will be watching how the BN government will respond to SAPP’s motion.

One thing is for sure: even if the BN government allows the motion and do the right thing, it has lost his respect and vote.A